Once You've Bought the Ice Cream

      Today is one of a series of 90 plus degree days. Not unheard of in northwest Montana, but unusually early this year. So when I bought ice cream at the store today, I knew I would be going straight home. Jesus used parables, although He couldn't have used this one because ice cream had not been invented yet, but this seems like a good analogy for people who receive a terminal diagnosis. Conditions like ALS, pancreatic cancer, inoperable tumors, Alzheimer's or, as with my father-in-law, unstoppable bleeding, etc. mean that death will come sooner rather than later. Death is inevitable. We know that. But still we live, we plan, as if it is something on the far off horizon. Until there is fatal diagnosis, then you know you have bought the ice cream and, no matter what else you would like to do, you are headed home.

     For believers, going home is a good thing. In our heavenly home we will find that place of belonging that we could not quite reach here on earth. We are with our Savior and departed loved ones. We are finally free from the presence of sin. Suffering is ended. Faithfulness is rewarded. We get the ice cream and, in heaven, no one is lactose intolerant.

     For unbelievers, death leads not to home, but to a dark, lonely place. And although many get their desire to have nothing to do with Christ, there will be no happy reunion loved ones either. And despite the jokes, cartoons and commercials--no parties with sinful friends. Payment for sin is due. Great suffering begins. Because even if they did not buy the ice cream, they bought the farm.

     And whether or not we receive a terminal diagnosis, life is fatal. We have all bought the ice cream. Whether the journey is straight home or long, the end of the trip is inevitable. And the hurry home is not because the ice cream is demanding, it's because it is delicious. So whether or not I ever receive a terminal diagnosis, as I go about the errands God has assigned me, I need to live as if something delicious awaits me when I get home. Because it does.